14 Suotuo City (2)

After an entire night of cultivation, Durand's cultivation hadn't risen at all. However, Durand was not concerned about this because he had already reached the 30th rank more than four months ago. This was because the spirit power gained from cultivation once a spirit master reached the limit of their tier carried over to after they gained the next spirit ring. This "missing" spirit power was recovered immediately after absorbing a spirit ring, allowing a spirit master to explode past the next rank.

Durand was a morning person and after eating a large breakfast at the hotel, quickly made his way to the Rose Hotel. As he left, the sun was barely peeking its rays over the roofs of the buildings, casting long shadows and gently lighting the morning sky with a soft orange. Even though he had left so early, the sun had already risen into the sky when he finally arrived at the Rose Hotel. In front of him, Durand could see Tang San and Xiao Wu waiting for him.

As he approached, he could hear Xiao Wu angrily saying, "Why are we waiting for the guy who ditched us?"

(Oh s***, I'm in trouble now. Xiao Wu holds grudges when she's hungry,) thought Durand.

With this in mind, Durand quickly said, "I just felt that the hotel wasn't very clean! Didn't I tell you that before I left? It was the two of you that insisted on sleeping here."

Even so, Xiao Wu continued to glare at Durand. It seemed that she and Tang San had discovered what type of customers that the Rose Hotel targeted. In order to avoid undergoing further scrutiny, Durand quickly suggested that they head out for a meal before exploring the city. Xiao Wu was a glutton, spending most of her monthly stipend on tasty food. Of course, the suggestion was also a selfish one as Durand was hungry once again. His appetite had significantly increased ever since he had absorbed the spirit ring from the Armored Elephant.

The attempt was successful and after the meal, the trio soon made their way around the city. The entire morning was consumed as Xiao Wu bounced from store to store, examining the glittering jewelry shops and fashionable clothing shops. At this time, Durand was grateful that Tang San had taken control of Xiao Wu's expenses; the various stores were much more expensive compared to the stores in Nuoding City. In fact, the prices in Suotuo City was nearly thirty percent higher across the board. Of course, some of the products were of better quality. However, this was to be expected since Nuoding City was a border city market without access to high volume trade routes that Suotuo City boasted.

Suddenly, Xiao Wu called out with an amazed voice, "Whoa! Little San, Brother Durand, look there."

Generally, Xiao Wu called Tang San as 'little San' in public. She reserved 'San Ge' which meant Third (older) Brother as an intimate way of address for when they spoke in private. In contrast, Durand had always been addressed as 'Brother Durand' regardless of whether they were in public or in private. Durand had always been a fan of Tang San and Xiao Wu's relationship and was glad that they had grown just as close as they had in the original novel. It was as if her intimacy with Tang San was extremely important and had to be kept sacred. Neither Tang San nor Durand said much about this, she had her reasons.

"Quickly look! That shop seems to be spirit master related!" exclaimed Xiao Wu as she bounced vivaciously toward the shop. As she did so, she pulled Tang San and Durand along with her.

Tang San and Durand's gaze followed the direction that Xiao Wu was pulling them toward and saw a distant small to medium sized shop, with an attractive sign board.

Perhaps to the common citizen, the sign board meant nothing. However to any spirit master, these symbols were easily recognized. The shop sign had a round mark with a sword, hammer, and a blue lightning dragon on it. These were clearly the same as the spirit token that Grandmaster used to get in and out of the Spirit Hunting Forest. Clearly it was a highly ranked symbol of Spirit Hall.

Tang San became interested and told the other two, "Let's go have a look."

As the shop's door opened, though the lighting was rather dusky, an unusual energy fluctuation immediately attracted the three of their attentions. This fluctuation was reminiscent of the atmosphere within a Spirit Hall albeit weaker. Through Grandmaster's instruction, this was caused by the presence of spirit tools. The feeling was quite a bit stronger than when Durand had found Hornet's Sting, meaning that there were quite a few spirit tools inside.

Hornet's Sting was a rare weapon type spirit tool; most spirit tools did not possess offensive effects and were usually used for assisting purposes like Tang San's space storage belt. Even so, spirit tools in general were extremely rare and most were passed down from generation to generation as antiques. This was because the ancient manufacturing methods had been lost to history.

The store inside was not crowded. There were no counters and the items were hung on the three walls. Only a single person was inside, sitting on a wooden deck chair and rocking it with his eyes closed. He appeared to be around fifty years old but boasted a thick and strong physique. His size was large enough that even the sturdy looking deck chair creaked under him. His chin was quite prominent, his cheekbones were rather wide, and he had a bit of an aquiline nose. A rude way of describing his face would be to compare it to the sole of a shoe. Even though his eyes were closed, he had a somewhat devious feeling. On his face were set of black framed crystal glasses. Square in shape, the glasses combined with his face gave off a strange feeling. Quite surprisingly, this shopkeeper was named Flender and is in fact, the dean of Shrek Academy and would accompany the Shrek Seven Devils on some of their adventures. Of course, neither Tang San nor Xiao Wu knew this yet. Even as Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Durand entered the store, the middle-aged man was not disturbed from his sleep.

"Little San, are these all spirit tools?" asked Xiao Wu curiously.

"I don't know either. Unless I try them all out with spirit power, I can't tell just by looking at them," replied Tang San.

As Tang San spoke, his eyes fell onto a chunk of crystal the size of a person's head. The moment he did so, Durand could see Tang San's eyes light up in surprise. The crystal was very unremarkable due to the yellow impurities inside the transparent gem. Even so, Tang San's desire could not be hidden from his involuntary behavior. His breath sped up slightly and his eyes were riveted on the ugly yellow rock.

Xiao Wu naturally also discovered Tang San's interest and asked, "Little San, what are you looking at the crystal for? This crystal is nearly worthless: it has no luster, transparency, and has an undesirable color. You can't be thinking of buying this right?"

To her surprise, Tang San responded, "I want to buy this crystal but I don't know its price."

"Not so expensive, one hundred gold spirit coins," said a lazy but magnetic voice.

Xiao Wu erupted in anger at the insane price, "For a broken crystal?! You might as well rob us!"

Opening his eyes, Flender motionlessly said, "One hundred gold spirit coins is already my most inexpensive offer. If you want to buy then take out your money. If you don't, leave."

Again, Xiao Wu's temper rose. However she was grasped by Tang San who said, "Fine, I'll buy it."

These last several years, Tang San had accumulated a certain amount of savings. His expenses were rather small and the majority of his income was saved in his space storage belt. In particular, ever since he and Durand had reached the spirit grandmaster level, the stipend they received had increased to 10 gold spirit coins. Now, Tang San and Xiao Wu's savings combined were over seven hundred gold spirit coins. This was nothing compared to Durand who had amassed nearly five thousand gold spirit coins with his T-shirt business.

"Tang San, are you all right?" asked Xiao Wu. She raised her hand to feel Tang San's forehead to make sure that he wasn't delirious from a fever.

Softly shaking his head, Tang San pulled out a small purse containing exactly 100 gold spirit coins from his Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges belt at his waist. Walking over to Flender, Tang San handed the purse over.

Without opening his eyes, Flender's money grubbing nature came out and he said, "Your money isn't enough."

Bewildered, Tang San responded, "But this is one hundred gold spirit coins like you said."

Flender indifferently said, "My crystal is now going for two hundred gold spirit coins."

Xiao Wu could no longer show restraint, saying, "This is extortion, Just now you said one hundred, now it became two hundred. No wonder you have no business. Little San, don't buy it. Let's leave."

Again Tang San shook his head towards Xiao Wu and asked Flender, "You definitely won't alter it again?"

Even though this crystal was useless to other people, in Tang San's hands, this crystal was invaluable. The yellow 'impurities' within the crystal were in fact Gold Dragon Beard Needles. It was ranked eighth in strength among the hidden weapons of the Tang Sect and was incredibly malicious. Normally, the Gold Dragon Beard Needles curled up by themselves without spirit power. However, when spirit power was inserted, they would straighten and harden, making them extremely difficult to remove once they were stabbed into a person's body. Even if the crystal cost ten thousand gold spirit coins, Tang San would be willing to purchase if he had the money, let alone two hundred.

Lazily, Flender raised the price again, "Fine, five hundred gold spirit coins. It won't change. Take out the money right now or leave."

In the original novel, Tang San had chosen to leave at this point. This was because he was unsure of the tuition costs of entering Shrek Academy. Tang San and Xiao Wu only had a total of seven hundred gold spirit coins. If he bought the crystal and the tuition for Shrek Academy exceeded a hundred gold spirit coins per student, he would feel regret for costing the both of them their education as well as disobeying Grandmaster's orders. Now though, Tang San had his richer brother Durand who had made a killing off stealing designs from his old world. Five hundred gold spirit coins would not be too much for the three of them and Tang San knew that Durand would not mind loaning him any amount of money. Tang San's flickered over to Durand who returned a slight nod.

Looking back to Flender, Tang San said, "Deal."

Next to Tang San and Durand, Xiao Wu was growing incredibly angry at the two of them. Five hundred gold spirit coins was incredibly expensive for a useless crystal. With that amount of money, they could feed an entire village for a few generations. Now though, they had spent it on a crystal that she deemed ugly and useless.

Durand turned to stop her. Grasping her shoulder with has hand, Durand gave her a look to stop talking. If she angered Flender and he didn't notice Tang San's belt, what would they do if Flender kept raising the price?

Fortunately, as Tang San withdrew more money from his space storage belt, Flender's eyes opened again and looked at the belt on Tang San's waist.

With surprise, he asked, "Oh! Where did you get this belt from?"

Gesturing at Durand, Tang San honestly replied, "Our teacher gave it to me. You recognize it?"

Flender sat up in his deck chair, looking at the Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges on Tang San's waist. His eyes seemed to twinkle with an odd light and for quite a while, he didn't say a word.

Easily squirming away from Durand, Xiao Wu poked out from behind Tang San and unhappily said, "You won't change the price again right?"

This seemed to break Flender from his moment of nostalgia and he said, "I can't believe he took on two disciples. You can just take the crystal then."

Tang San seemed relieved and handed five pouches of one hundred gold spirit coins each over to Flender.

Flender waved his hand though, lying back down in his deck chair and said, "No need. The crystal is a gift to you. Originally it wasn't some expensive thing. You can leave; don't disturb my sleep."

Tang San was dumbfounded for a moment. The change was just so large. Before Flender had been asking for sky high prices and now hand decided to present the crystal as a gift. However he understood that the crafty Flender must be a close friend of Grandmaster.

While Tang San pondered though, Xiao Wu was already holding the crystal to her chest without the slightest trace of politeness.

With a sneer, Xiao Wu said, "Little San, we're leaving before he regrets."

Tang San looked a little amused and guilty at the same time and said, "How can we casually demand someone's things? Uncle, you are still saying no price, right?"

However, Flender's chair was already rocking and paid no attention to the three children in his store. Tang San looked at the crystal in Xiao Wu's hands and then back at Flender. According to his personality, he would be unlikely to simply take this crystal. However, the crystal was extremely important to him and if he missed this opportunity and someone else bought it, he would regret it for a lifetime. Therefore, as the three of them left, he stealthily left behind the five pouches of gold coins in his hand on the floor.

Only after the three of them had left did Flender open his eyes again. His crafty expression faded away and said to himself, "His disciples came to Suotuo City with such amazing spirit power. They must be going to Shrek Academy. Grandmaster, you won't be able to hide from me this time."

Outside the shop, Xiao Wu finally asked the question she had been holding in, "Little San, why did you have to buy this crystal? I haven't seen you long for an item so much. The crystal's quality is so lacking, what can you use it for?"

Tang San took the crystal from Xiao Wu's hands and quickly stored it into his belt. Pulling Xiao Wu's hands, he said, "Walk quickly! Let's return to the hotel before talking about it."

"I'm going back to my hotel then," said Durand.

Tang San responded, "You recalled what it is? Thanks in advance! See you tomorrow at Shrek Academy then."

"See you and Xiao Wu there then," said Durand as he walked away.

Durand had long since figured out what the crystal was. Ever since Durand had joined the Tang Sect as a child, Tang San had imparted many of the information about hidden weapons in addition to the cultivation methods. Tang San's eagerness to obtain the crystal had allowed Durand to infer that the crystal must be incredibly valuable. This could only mean that the crystal could be turned into a Tang Sect weapon since money was not really an issue for Tang San. After thinking it through, it was obvious to Durand that the crystal must be a plate crystal, a super high quality hair crystal that when shattered, produced Plate Crystal Hair Gold Dragon Beard Needles.

These needles became straight and rigid when spirit power was inserted. Once the inserted spirit power dissipated though, it would curl up again. This meant that if the needle was shot at a person or beast after inserting sufficient spirit power, it would curl up within the body, making it extremely difficult to remove without additional damage. Furthermore, plate crystals were higher quality hair crystals because they contained the most amount of hair crystals.

Gold Dragon Beard Needles ranked eighth on the list of hidden weapons from the Tang Sect. Naturally, Tang San was anxious to obtain such a powerful weapon because it could instantly make him much stronger. Even Durand would have a difficult time blocking these needles. Especially since Tang San could apply poison to the needle, this was a terrifying weapon to fight against.

Therefore, Tang San had thanked Durand for two things. In the store when Flender had raised the price to five hundred gold spirit coins, Tang San had silently asked Durand to help him with tuition later if the crystal would cut too deep into their pockets. Durand's agreement had allowed Tang San to freely purchase the crystal, an important weapon, without worrying about entrance fees and school tuition for Shrek Academy.

Tang San quickly dragged Xiao Wu back to the Rose Hotel so that he could smash the crystal to acquire the Dragon Beard Needles. Naturally, Durand returned to his hotel room at the Regency to meditate. It was only through this consistent obsession with cultivation that Durand had been able to just barely surpass Tang San in cultivation.